I received so many buttons over the last couple of days…. I’ll make a start sharing them.

First there was Moonglow, then Superglow and Opal-glo. Now there’s RAY-GLOW!! The red buttons are the same style as a Beauclaire style, but the card graphics are different. Shame the top of the card is missing.

Love the Coronet elephants!

Beutron from the 50’s to the 70’s.

‘TecOpal’! Interestingly, not mentioned in advertising. The Tecpearl style was obviously used for a long time.

Whilst most of Melbourne is getting excited about the footy, I’m more excited about my lastest deliveries of Australian and New Zealand buttons!

Kings crown navy button by Stokes and Sons. What is interesting for me is the ‘hollow back” style of shank. All my other Australian uniform buttons have various types of loop shanks.

c.1950 Donald buttons with a vivid blue background.

This lovely card came from New Zealand. On the bottom right hand corner is a fancy ‘F’. On the top left hand corner is a bird of prey. Putting all these together, I think this must be from ‘Falcon Plastics’ , a past Kiwi button manufacture. See the NZ page for more history on this company.

And now, just for a laugh…..

Published in The Brisbane Courier, 28th February 1911. If this hat was to scale, the buckle alone would have been 10-12 cm in length! Useful indeed!

As you can see, it is referred to as a braces button, used by soldiers to keep their trousers up. The photo below from the Australian War Memorial’s collection clearly shows the braces buttons on this WW1 era soldier’s breeches.

Recently I shared a Myers Emporium advert showing hats trimmed with buttons. This piqued my interest as my mother was a milliner back in the day. I don’t know if this was a common trimming, but I did manage to find some other examples.

Published in The World’s News (Sydney) 5th November 1927. A halo of buttons? Not quite angelic.

In the Australian Women’s Weekly, November 1941. Slightly nautical.

In the Australian Women’s Weekly, 12 September 1951. I quite like this one.

In 1873 The New Zealand Clothing Factory was established in Dunedin to supply the Hallenstein Brothers clothing stores. By 1900 there were 30 “HB” clothing stores across the country. A grand new headquarters was built in 1882-3 which housed up to 300 employees. The opening was celebrated with a ball for 500-600 people. The company continues today, but now most of the clothing is made in China.

The NZ Clothing Factory, 18-20 Dowling Street, Dunedin.

Otago Daily Times, 15th April 1890.

As the above newspaper article outlines, the factory manufactured military uniforms. I have just received NZ artillery buttons, including these 2 from the New Zealand Clothing Factory.

According to the Smithsonian, the fashion of “pink for girls and blue for boys” has waxed and waned and even reversed throughout the last century, only settling on the current status in the 1940-50’s as a marketing tool. Having said that, I can remember in Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women’ from 1869 that when Meg had twins they were dressed to tell them apart with pink and blue in “french fashion”. Be that as it may be, the Beauclaire buttons below are gorgeous!

I’ve gradually built up a collection of the below style from Beauclaire. Interestingly, I’ve also received some glass buttons that are very similar (although not the same) in style. Coincidence or copied?

So much to tell, where to start? Perhaps with Mr Elijah Thomas, tailor and outfitter of Grey Street, St Kilda. According to this information http://www.historyaustralia.org.au/ifhaa/bios/elijah.htm He came from England around 1900. Three generations of his family operated E.Thomas Pty. Ltd. Mercers and Mens Ware from then until 1980.

Now; the Wiseman Bros. In the 1880’s Albert and Walter ran a business in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, as softgoods warehousemen. Along with their brother Arthur, they were well regarded as philanthropists.

Buttonfest 2016 is coming up next month. Very exciting; I’ve been preparing some displays along this year’s theme of animals and birds depicted on buttons. Here’s a preview of a display of Beauclaire animals, including a new trio sent to me by Leah.

Details of the new buttons.

Over the last week I’ve received buttons and buckles to add to the collection.

Another colour of Beauclaire buckle, and a couple more of the Beutron type, making quite a nice collection!

American, Woolies and Rex cards.

These 2 buttons have a metallised centre set in a clear plastic surround with a molded zig-zag pattern.

3 more variations of this “cluster of berries” shape.

A very beautiful glass design. The details below come from 1955 Beutron ads.

I have received 2 cards of modern MOP buttons from Broome. This prompted me to revisit the history of this industry, and remember how dangerous and lucrative it once was, how things have changed and how plastic has almost completely taken over.

A collection of modern and vintage pearl-shell buttons, showing how the shell could be carved and dyed, as well as combined with other materials (here, glass and plastic). Real MOP buttons are still in production, but for the most part have been replaced by the cheaper, more wash resistant pearl-like plastic (like the 1960’s examples here from Woolworths and Embassy). The story below explains how it was possible to colour your own MOP buttons.